Awful Marco Bros

Turn the Tables: Help Boltar rescue the Princess from the clutches of Marco the Plumber in this Opposite Day adventure!

Download the source-code or Wishlist the new version on steam

The game was originally developed for the Game-Wisdom Game Jam with the theme: "Opposite Day", pick a game genre and flip it on its head.

Experience the ultimate role reversal as you control Boltar, tasked with rescuing Princess from the clutches of Marco. Control his minions to defend against Marco's daring rescue attempts. Will Boltar manage to keep the Princess out of Marco's reach? And where is Marco's brother?

๐Ÿ“บ Best enjoyed in fullscreen mode (see settings menu)

๐Ÿ’พ The game saves your progress (the levels you unlocked)

โŒจ๏ธ Keyboard controls:
    arrows: move, jump
    spacebar: jump
    X: fireball (Boltar only)
    Z: dash (Boltar only)
    p: pause, settings
    esc: pause, settings

๐ŸŽฎ Gamepad controls:
    d-pad / left analog: move
    a: jump
    x: fireball (Boltar only)
    b: dash (Boltar only)
    select: pause, settings

๐Ÿ“ฑ Mobile controls (on-screen gamepad):
    d-pad: move
    a: jump
    x: fireball (Boltar only)
    b: dash (Boltar only)
    pause: pause, settings

Credits:

    art and development - Zizaco
    music (royalty free) - Lexica, Wave Saver, William Benckert
    sfx - 8bit Sound Pack

This is an Opposite Day adventure that turns the universe of the famous plumber on its head!

Development log

Comments

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( 1)

When you go to the end of it, it's really hard because you have to be an absolute dead Luigi.

( 1)

I BEAT WEEGEE

( 1)

Its really good. But you need to add an download section quickly. Cause i think Nintendo will take this one out.

( 2)(-1)

They shouldn't, as there is no mention of any of their intellectual properties in the game.

( 2)

Excelent game pal, this idea have a lot of potential, i hope you can make more games like this one

( 1)

The first time I killed Marco, I killed his brother too.
In a way, first try.

( 1)

Great game! Quick question, what is the music called used for lv 2?

Or at least, what artist is it? I really want to know. Thanks.

Thanks Champion-Square.

It's Wave Saver - 8-bit Sheriff

( 1)

what is marco's brother's name

I haven't given it much thought, but in the source code, he's referred to as "Lino". Let me know if you have a suggestion

Show post...

That's such a jerk move I thought I kill that plumber when he hit Zero. Now I know what it feels like to be Bowser I hate that, Plumber. Screw that I count that as win I don't what you people say.

( 1)

Dude, this music is awesome! Could you release it somewhere, like youtube, please so i can jam to it?

The artists are Lexica, Wave Saver and William Benckert. I guess you can find them on youtube

( 1)

i love the turtle ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

( 1)

In the next version, I plan to add a hat to them:


:0

( 2)

This was so fun to play! Great concept, awesome execution!

( 1)

Thanks! : )

(1 edit) ( 1)

Hey Zizaco, glad to see you making games some little jam games again :) this is pretty cool

( 1)

Hey Austen! Thanks

I quickly show the soundtrack you made in my last YT video. We have to collaborate again sometime =D

( 3)

i beat level 2 by doing nothing at all

( 2)

A poetic example of the Action bias

I managed to take one of Marco's lives by doing nothing.

i took all 2

( 2)

This game was really fun

( 2)

Wow that was phenomenal, the AI was really impressive. And I totally didnt expect Luigi at the end. Really great work!

( 1)

I need more of this beauty

( 1)

LEVEL SELECT ISN'T LEVEL SELECTING. I CANT ENTER DAMN LEVEL 1

( 1)

never mind for some reason enter didn't work the first time i played

Thx for the comment! It's probably because the game window was out of focus... I'm going to add a tooltip to avoid this confusion!

Cheers!

game window very much so was in focus.

( 1)

cool game

( 1)

Man i found this game in your devlog and god, it's very fun, i don't know if it is possible, but can you make a multiplayer mode? because i think it will be even more fun to play it with friends! Good job and congratulations man.

Hey Victor. Thank you for the feedback :)

I'll see if I can add multiplayer to an expanded version of the game. I agree that would be fun!

( 1)

Np, thx for you for replying this comment! And yeah, that would be very fun, if you still have motivation for the game clearly, if you make a expanded version of your game i'm gonna watch your devlog because it's very very cool, good job man, see ya!

( 2)

fun concept and a fun game..... you should make this a full game eventually its very fun
the marco final battle was just the right amount of difficult which is awesomes

( 1)

Thanks Marcy! I'll attempt to make it into a full game :D

( 2)

What game engine and art making software was used?

( 1)

Construct3, Krita and Photopea

You can check the devlog here: 

( 1)

thanks

( 1)

Is Boltar supposed to just die while carrying the princess after surviving the final fight? 

Not really. Did you find a bug? ๐Ÿ˜…

(1 edit) ( 3)

Now, I really like this game. And the concept. It's genuinely great! I do have a couple of pieces of criticism though.

The main problem is the enemy section, it is so unique and fun. And yes, I guess it is frustrating and hard, but I think what people are missing is *why* it is hard. I like hard things, but I think the problem is not the fact that Marco is so good, but rather that Marco is so good AND you get not many opportunities to hurt him. He can stomp you in a second and then you gotta patiently wait for him to get to the next part of your lovel just for a CHANCE to do some damage. And if you didn't do enough damage early on, that's it, there's no comeback mechanic. You don't have enough enemies to kill him. And that's not fun, the game should have marco be hard but also throw tons of enemies and marco so that the player is always in their toes, rather than staring at the screen waiting for marco to go to the next part of the level.

Boom he killed one? Next one, that would make it feel more like man vs an army.

That's my main suggestion, longer levels and more enemies. You can give marco more lives to compensate, I just don't see the point of having the player *not* engage with the game for the mayority of the play time. Another thing that would really help is having different enemies perform different actions. How could would it be if Marco came across a bunch of goombas all the time and they can only hope to do some chip damage, and then there's a hammer bros that can deal serious damage or have different movesets but they are also rare and therefore valuable.

Also the Boltar Music is a banger.

( 1)

Hi Jorge! Thank you for the feedback!

I agree with your points, and it's indeed a bit boring to wait for Marco to get to the next enemy. I'm planning on improving this for a "deluxe" release. The game was developed in a very limited timespan, so I didn't have the time to add more variety to the minions (movesets, etc).

I noted all your suggestions and for sure I'll address these points soon! Stay tuned

Thanks for playing. :)

(1 edit) ( 1)

Great to hear.

As good as the AI is, I also noticed that Marco often just stands around doing nothing, sometimes for such a long time that I low-key start to think the game just soft-locked.

Aside from that, the lack of enemies and shorter levels didn't really bother me as much, though I can definitely see that being a turnoff for some.

EDIT: I also noticed that the Marco bros can legit fire on you while paused, and the music will sometimes just stop playing. It's still a great game, especially given that you only had 10 days to make this; it's just something to keep in mind.

( 1)

A lot of times in the game I felt like it wasn't my fault for losing

I'm sorry you felt that way. I will attempt to polish the hitboxes a bit more.

( 1)

thanks

( 2)

this game is too hard not relaxed at all i hate it

Indeed, it's a challenging game! xD

( 1)(-1)

more levels, super fun game. NEED MORE!

I'm thinking of expanding the game and adding a few more levels.

(3 edits) ( 1)(-1)

Very nice game! Great artstyle and catchy music. Very original concept for "enemy".  

Although I have to say it is difficult, like some other person suggested it should have difficulty modes/settings and the current version would be second hardest or potentially hardest. And also maybe make the controls for shooting more clear and give different key binds for dash and shoot when a person uses WSAD to move (please make jumping with W possible).

Good job! Keep up the good work!

( 1)

Thanks for the suggestion Casper! I will do these adjustments (including the difficulty).

Thank you for playing.

( 2)

FINAL BATTLE

SO FRIKKIN HARD

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

xD

( 2)

The hell was up with that final battle?

(-1)

Weegee ๐Ÿ‘€

( 1)

i hate you so much why did you make this so hard i hate it this game sucks im disliking it

Sorry for that danilman102. I'll add an option to change the difficulty to make the game easier.

(1 edit)

idk man the game was pretty easy )_in my opinon(

Everyone's experience is different. I thought the final fight was hard as well, even cheap at times, though it never felt unwinnable.

I do agree that, if there is ever a deluxe edition, it should have multiple difficulty settings.

( 1)(-1)

this was honestly awesome lol

( 1)(-1)

wow this is a really cool concept, i love how (not) mario is a sort of unstoppable force and the execution of this with the almost second person camera control in the minion section i thought was very unique.

the game was a little too unforgiving at times however, like it felt like (not) mario could stomp you so easily and that his extra lives made it difficult to widdle him down. the same goes for the (not) bowser fight where it felt like (not) mario was unstoppable and i think it would be more balanced if (not) bowser could run into him or stomp on him to deal damage like in the original game. But i dont think any of this was bad, I think it was a fun challenge and should not be scrapped. i feel like this could be a hard mode or extra challenge that is unlocked. I think first run through it would work better if the game adheared to more mario like rules, straight fire flower shots, only 3 lives and enemy respawns, maybe give bowser a way to heal. but then aas it is now could be an added challenge as it was still fun. 

i also feel like there could be a bit more added to the story, even if slight, to add to the humor. it is shown that (not) mario is meant to be more of a villain so maybe a few lines of text with the princess asking the monster to save her or just that she wants to escape would reinforce that, and then at the end a little extra with the monster and the princess running away together would make it more sympathetic, because as is it still seems like the monster kidnapped her rather than saved her. also the (not) luigi fight i very much enjoyed the concept of but i felt like it would work better as a hidden boss fight (perhaps only in hard mode or unlocked in some way), that way it would feel more special. 

all around i thought the game was very promising, good job :]

(1 edit) ( 1)(-1)

Thank you for the comment scrachu. I agree that adding a bit more to the story (dialog, for example) will add to the experience. With the time constraint the only thing I could came up with was the short intro animation.

Indeed there is room to better adhere to the standard rules. And to make it less difficult. Noted!

After the jam voting/judging phase, depending on the feedback, I may expand and improve it. If I do, your suggestions will make it to the game for sure.

Thank you again for the comment and the suggestion !

( 1)(-1)

YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CONTINUE! (as long as you are passionate, dont force yourself lol) it is a very solid game and premise and the art is so great and aaaa, just yeah its great good job

( 1)(-1)

great fun ahahah

:D

It was amazing to see you beat the boss without using the dash! Well done!

( 1)

Awesome game! Loved the theme and the game mechanics. The minion control felt a bit rough, but got the hang of it after a few tries. Wish there were secret blocks and alternate exits that don't kill you on the first stage XD Music was excellent.

Thanks PIllBug! I'm glad you liked.

The idea was to make the minions feel underpowered compared to the "hero". I tried my best, but I'm still not sure it's well balanced. x)

( 1)

Hey! I played with the controller. It felt great to enjoy how the big turtle controlled. Nice dash with a ranged attack and resources system :p. Fun stuff good luck with the jam!

Thanks Brandon! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

( 1)

Can you make it so that the pause button ISN'T the ESC key? Cuz it exits out of fullscreen mode.

( 1)

Thanks for the request. I just updated the game so that you can also use "P" to pause. :)

( 1)

I can't beat the minion level because there is a part where there are no minions for me to control and Marco keeps getting the star and jumping into a pit over and over again!

In theory, when Marco has x1 life you unlock the Final Battle, which is not so obvious ๐Ÿ˜…

Thank you for raising this up. I'll fix this edge case!


Deleted 1 year ago

I just fixed this bug. Thanks again raising this issue! :)

( 1)

Wow, ive done it! The second level with all the minions was super hard haha, this was a fun game I liked the second weegee boss :)

(1 edit)

Awesome! :D

Indeed it's a challenging game. I'm glad you liked it!